HP offering limited refurbished $99 TouchPads on 12/11

Those of you that missed out on HP’s firesale—get ready. December 11 marks the beginning of another round of $99 HP TouchPad tablets for sale, as long as you don’t mind refurbished models.

According to an internal memo snagged by TechCrunch, HP will be making 16GB and 32GB Touchpads available on the Hewlett-Packard eBay store at $99 and $150 respectively. Get your PayPal accounts primed, the tablets will be available for purchase at 6:00 p.m Central Time this Sunday; look for the tablets under Laptops. Also available will be a $79 accessory package which includes a charging dock, wireless keyboard and a case. If you don’t have a PayPal account set up you should probably set one up in advance.

The memo below states that the Sunday date for the sale is an HP employee benefit, and the company planned on giving the public the leftovers on Monday. It’s not clear, now that the memo has been leaked, if the sale will continue with the first come, first served plan. The sale will limit each eBay member to two TouchPad SKUs. All sales will be final and each tablet will come with a 90-day warranty.

It finally seems like the very last of HP’s TouchPad inventory has been depleted. Originally priced at $499, the company slashed the price of a new tablet down to $99 in August, causing stampedes to line up at the nearest Best Buy. Once store’s sold out, eager consumers waited for HP to email back about available stock, only to receive a letter in late October that the TouchPad stock had been completely liquidated. Best Buy briefly offered 32GB versions for $149, but required consumers to buy a laptop in tandem to receive that price.

HP employees will have a chance to purchase a refurbished HP TouchPad via eBay before the sale is announced to the general public. Specifically, the TouchPads will be offered through one of HP’s newest marketplaces for close-out and refurbished HP products, the new HP eBay Store.

This product will NOT be available through any other HP stores, such as the Home & Home Office store, Small & Medium Business store, HP EPP or the HP Business Outlet. PLEASE DO NOT CALL ANY OF THESE CALL CENTERS BECAUSE IT DISRUPTS REGULAR SALES ACTIVITIES AND THEY’RE UNABLE TO PROCESS AN ORDER FOR THE TOUCHPADS ANYWAY.

In an effort to give HP employees first chance at a very limited supply of refurbished TouchPads, there will be a short delay between when the product is posted live for sale on eBay and when the general public is notified of the sale.

Refurbished HP TouchPads, both 16GB and 32GB versions, will be posted for sale through the HP eBay store at: 6:00 p.m. (Central Time), Sunday, December 11th. If you are interested in purchasing a refurbished TouchPad, please make yourself a reminder to log-on to eBay a few minutes before the sale starts to make your purchase.

The TouchPads will be available for sale here (under “Laptops”):

http://stores.ebay.com/hewlettpackard

Important information about this sale:

– There will be both 16GB and 32GB versions available, selling at a fixed price of $99 and $149 respectively…while supplies last.

– There is also an optional 3-piece Accessory bundle with a Case, Charging Dock & Wireless Keyboard for $79 (est. value $199.97).

– Purchases must be made through the HP eBay store via PayPal only. If you do not have eBay or PayPal accounts, create your accounts before the sale begins to avoid delays.

– The product offer will be announced to the general public on Monday morning and is expected to sell-out quickly thereafter, so don’t delay.

– There will be a limit of two (2) TouchPad SKUs per eBay member, sold on a first come, first served basis.

– This sale is not associated with any HP-sponsored employee purchase program and there are no additional discounts for HP employees off the HP eBay store price.

– All sales are final. There are no returns unless product arrives defective.